Ghostwalker 09 - Ruthless Game

wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Carlson was a sacrifice so Whitney could find the answer. Kane had been obsessed with finding Rose. Had his need turned into obsession as wel ? Damn Whitney and his appetite for high-stakes games. He loved to use people as human pawns. Having been bul ied in his younger years by not only his parents but other children who didn’t understand him, he had developed a need to prove to everyone that he was smarter. He needed the games now just as much as he needed the experiments. The games seemed to be his one source of amusement.
    “I just thought if we picked up a little senorita and shared her, kept her while we had to wait, that it might be easier for you, Carlson, that’s al ,” Fargo said. “Once your woman has the kid, Whitney wil take it, and you won’t have to worry about having that bastard’s brat running around.”
    “It’s stil her kid,” Carlson pointed out. “Women don’t like their kids taken from them. If I took her now, at least she’d have the kid.”
    It surprised Kane that Carlson would be compassionate enough to think about Rose’s feelings. He might be brutish and selfish, but he’d thought about what it would mean to take Rose’s child from her.
    Fargo nodded. “Yeah, but think about it, Carlson. If
    Whitney can be occupied with his favorite project, making the kid his supersoldier, then you have a chance he’l leave you and Rose alone if you have another child together. Your kid would have more protection.”
    Carlson threw another arrow onto the growing stack. “I hadn’t thought of that. And Whitney isn’t going to give up until he has a kid to play the mad doctor with.”
    Both men laughed harshly.
    “Might not be such a bad idea if you went and got us a woman,” Carlson said. “One of us has to stay here and make certain she doesn’t take off.”
    “Maybe you should go, give you a little break.” Fargo picked up an empty bottle. “And while you’re at it, replenish our supplies.”
    Carlson shook his head. “I can’t do it, Fargo. She’s going to have that baby any day now. Do you realize she’s alone in there? What happens when she goes into labor? She could die. I’m going to stay right here.”
    Carlson actual y sounded like he was worried about Rose. Kane frowned, not wanting to relate to the man at al . It was difficult not to think about what would have happened if Kane had been in his shoes. Would he have managed to walk away from Rose knowing she was with another man? He hoped so. He hoped he was man enough to want her happy and that if she real y chose someone else, he would abide by her decision. His heart hammered in his chest at the thought. Worse, everything male in him rose up to fight against the idea. If nothing else, this was a lesson in the havoc and devastation Whitney created. The man ruined lives and never thought twice about it.
    Are you all right?
    Rose’s voice was soft and hesitant. They’d agreed not to use telepathy with the soldiers so close. They might feel the disturbance in the energy waves around them. He must have been projecting distress for her to reach out to him in spite of their edict.
    He kept his eyes on both soldiers, assessing their level of sensitivity. Fargo rubbed his eyes and Carlson frowned, but neither seemed at al suspicious.
    Kane had noticed before that neither appeared to have much in the way of psychic talent; now it was truly evident. He pressed his head into his palm, swearing to himself.
    Whitney had requested Kane because he wanted the level of psychic gifts that Kane had been born with. Yes, Whitney had enhanced his skil s, but he had scored quite high on the psychic tests. Neither of these men could have, or they would have sensed that someone other than Rose was in the house.
    Kane would have known. Whitney had taken the men who had barely managed to make it into the program. Most of them had flunked the psych evals as wel .
    Whitney didn’t want to pair them with his precious women. He simply didn’t have that many women who could be bred to produce a supersoldier, but he knew the women inside and out. He’d had them in his laboratory from the time they were infants. He had dangled Kane in front of Rose like a carrot, knowing exactly the kind of man who would appeal to her.
    And Kane? Hel . He’d made it so damned easy. He had the knight-in-shining-armor complex—even his friends said so. He was a rescuer. Of course he would have